DAVID WHEELER: The knowledge explosion

Most people would agree that quick access to information like this is a good thing. What could possibly be bad about having the world's information at your fingertips? How would today's bar patrons settle sports arguments, for example? But there is a difference between instant access to information and the instant gratification that arises from it. One makes us more informed. The other makes us less patient.

Not bad for a five-second search using my cell phone. Unless you're a chef, how often do you use conversion rates?

I think most people would agree that quick access to information like this is a good thing. What could possibly be bad about having the world's information at your fingertips? How would today's bar patrons settle sports arguments, for example?

But there is a difference between instant access to information and the instant gratification that arises from it. One makes us more informed. The other makes us less patient.

At first this sounds like overstating the obvious. Of course instant gratification leads to less patience. That's the whole point. People want what they want when they want it.

There's a reason Netflix has 8 million members who get DVDs by mail as opposed to 33 million who stream their movies. Likely the same reason why people pay three times the price or more for next day delivery for nonessential items at Amazon.com.

Clearly today's consumer (and learner) is willing to pay for speed and convenience. In other words, people will pay more in order to act in an impatient manner. But hasn't this always been true?

Everyone knows convenience stores charge more for their products, but that's part of the deal. We pay for the convenience of easier availability. Problem is, it’s getting easier and more acceptable to be less patient.

Yet with our loss of patience comes something else - an inability to appreciate the benefits of time and hard work. How many people my age or older took the time to memorize their multiplication tables in elementary school? It wasn’t easy, but it was certainly beneficial.

The same holds true for everything from relationships to careers. People who have patience, the ones who are willing to stick around and work for success, are generally happier and more satisfied with their lives.

Interestingly, this very concept – delayed gratification - was addressed in a series of studies from the 1960s and 70s known as “The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment”. In the studies, a child was offered a choice between one marshmallow, provided immediately, or two marshmallows if he or she waited approximately 15 minutes. Researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for two marshmallows tended to have higher educational attainment and lower body mass indexes, among other life measures.

Clearly, good things come to those who wait. But how all this translates to information-access and learning instead of marshmallows remains to be seen. It’s one thing to wait for a treat or stick to a diet. It’s something altogether different to lose patience where education, work, and life are concerned.

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Hopefully today’s super-connected kids will figure a way to be fully-informed without being impatient. Because there’s one thing Google just can’t teach – wisdom.